Theater:
What the Butler Saw, Zebra Crossing Productions: A British farce with some genuinely laugh out loud moments, but ultimately disappointing due to suspect direction and a lack of cohesion among the cast members. Vernetta Lopez stood out, though Elizabeth Tan looked out of depth, and Gerald Chew was far too self indulgent in the lead. Some attempts at localizing the play worked (like turning a typical British bobby into a khaki wearing local policeman who kept saying "yes sirs, how can I help you sirs?", but others were often lame, and fell pretty flat. Quite a fair bit of the play was lost in translation. Overall, fairly disappointing. Grade: D+
Story of a Rabbit, Hugh Hughes: A very interesting one man show by a wonderfully engaging and charming Welshman. I loved the interaction with the audience, and the way Hugh could move from the comic and funny to the deeply introspective without missing much of a beat. Oddball and never less than interesting, this is compelling autobiography and avant garde theater that is engaging rather than pretentious. Karin got a free cup of tea to boot. Grade: B+
Much Ado About Nothing, Singapore Repertory Theater (Shakespeare in the Park): Two of Shakespeare's sassiest characters brought to life with real verve and flair by the ever excellent Adrian Pang (in comedy roles) and the wonderful Wendy Kueh. A slightly more uneven supporting cast, but a beautiful 1920s set and costumes, and good production values made this a lovely (but quite muggy) evening out. Or maybe it was just the half bottle of wine I consumed when watching it. Grade: B+The Cherry Orchard, Lin Zhaohua Studios (Singapore Arts Festival): Chekhov done entirely in mandarin was a better fit than might be expected. Certainly, the themes of a gilded landed aristocracy being supplanted by the proletariat is relevant enough to a Chinese theater company. The largely bare stage and minimalist overtones suited Chekhov nicely and the acting and direction was fairly spot on for the most part, barring a few strange moments (actors freezing when a rising scale of musical notes suddenly stops surely belongs in the worst tradition of farcical sneak thief movies). My only gripe: the subtitles were clearly truncated and often couldn't keep pace with the dialogue, compromising the subtle grandeur of Chekhov's writing. Grade: B-
Own Time Own Target, Wild Rice: The army and national service continues to provide fertile creative inspiration for local playwrights and this double bill of a play and musical is a very welcome addition. Laremy Lee's Full Tank is an uninhibited satire of the army what with golf club wielding generals, clueless privates, and a long suffering sergeant. Mayhem ensues when a tank crew goes on a joyride, while a terror suspect manages to escape from a prison (Mas Selamat anyone?). Botak Boys, as it's title suggests follows the experiences of a group of young men during their first two weeks of basic military training (BMT). It features some catchy tunes, and outrageously camp costumes, and it fairly good fun, if a bit twee and sentimental for my liking. The 'good cop bad cop' routine of the two BMT sergeants, with the short one prone to pontificating endlessly and the tall one limited to strutting about going 'chao recruit', and 'chee bai' was so true to life it had me in stitches. Grade: B
Defending the Caveman, Singapore Repertory Theater: This one man show was stand up comedy masquerading as theater. It did have its funny moments, but the material was far too unoriginal and well-worn to make for an interesting performance. I mean, men as hunters and women as gatherers, who would have ever come up with that original idea! There were appropriate chuckles for quips about how women can't read maps and how male bonding is restricted to grunting and staring at the telly, but this amounted to nothing more than a re-hash of complaints you've probably shared with friends over a pint of beer at the pub. Grade: D+
Hamlet: the Clown Prince, Rajat Kapoor (Director): Hamlet, as performed by a troupe of clowns turned out to be a fascinating mix of farce and pathos. The performance was compelling, right from its bizarre five minute opening featuring a spot-lit Hamlet going on a long monologue in gibberish right till the end. There was an ample variety of humour from moonwalks, and hilariously over-the-top accents, to a drunken actress depositing a handkerchief with an audience member as a sign of affection. What truly merited praise was the ability the actors had in switching from slapstick humour to the seriousness and pathos of scenes such as Ophelia's suicide, all within an instant. An original idea that was wonderfully executed. Grade: A-
Concerts:Eliane Elias and Ivan Lins: Think Brazilians and you immediately think of the smooth laid back groove of bossa nova, or the playful sexiness of the samba. Smooth sexiness was definitely evident with Eliane Elias, with her blonde bombshell looks. Elias was sultry but definitely not cold, striking up an easy rapport with the crowd between takes, giving background to the songs, and personal anecdotes, including an extended account of a holiday in Northern Brazil. Her languid contra-alto and smooth piano playing helped her to epitomize the bossa nova vibe. Ivan Lins, for all his reknown talent as a songwriter, didn't quite have the voice, the presence, the personality, or the looks to match. His songs were fairly repetetive in sound and people soon become restless. It said a lot about his character and resolve that he remained fairly charming even as a fair number of people in the audience began walking out, but he just didn't have the verve to charm the crowd and his quirkiness rather fell flat. Grade: Eliane Elias B Ivan Lins D-
Sondre Lerche
Coldplay: The popularity of Coldplay could be seen in how tickets for the concert sold out within days, if not hours. Although I hardly listened to their later two albums X&Y, and Viva La Vida, I jumped at the chance to see Coldplay perform live. The atmosphere was certainly electric, from the entire crowd singing along to their signature song "Yellow" (complete with yellow spot lights), to the repeated chanting of the main chords of the chorus from Viva La Vida to urge the band to come back for an encore. For all the technical baubles (disco ball screens), dropping balloons, Chris Martin's charisma was what electrified the evening, and we even got a chance to see Will Champion sing a little. A brilliantly fun concert. Grade: A-
Joanna MacGregor: MacGregor certainly cuts a fascinating figure, classically trained pianists don't usually come with dread-lock hair. Reknown for her eclectic repertoire, this variety was most definitely on show in her solo recital. The first half consisted of her alternating Preludes and Fugues by Bach and Shostakovitch a blend of baroque and modern that was illuminating rather than discordant due to her fine artistic touch. It was in the second half where she really was in her element, cutting loose on a number of Latin American pieces most notably six Tangos (transcribed by her for the piano) written by Argentinian composer Piazzola. Her dynamic range and versatility certainly shone through in a fine concert; thoughtful comments on the music she was playing was an added bonus. An excellent recital. Grade: A-
Nikolai Demidenko
Li Yundi: For once, the Straits Times got this one perfectly right. The headline of their review of this concert was 'shockingly bad' and it truly was. I had very high expectations of Li Yundi, a teen prodigy who won the extremely prestigious Warsaw Chopin competition at just 19 years of age. His rendition of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 was disjointed, replete with wrong notes, and totally lacking in subtlety and grace. It often felt as if he were just banging the piano, and he was woefully out of sync with the orchestra (for once I am not blaming the SSO). This was piano playing not dissimilar to Sunday evening entertainment in the parlour. He even managed to mangle his encore piece. Grade: F
King's College Choir
Amanda Palmer, Live@Stereolab: I had little familiarity with Amanda Palmer's music and I knew her only as the new beau of Neil Gaiman, noted graphic novelist and all round genius. Indeed, she was in Singapore to accompany Neil who was here was part of the Singapore Writer's Festival. While in town she decided to do a last minute gig at Stereolab, and I decided to go after a friend described her as "Tori Amos high on speed" and the self-styled depiction of her former group, The Dresden Dolls, as performing "Brechtian punk cabaret". Palmer definitely had a wonderful stage presence, providing easy banter with the crowd, even when occasionally mangling or losing her place in the middle of songs. A classic moment was in the middle of her signature song "Coin Operated Boy", when an audience member completed the line "I need..." with the emphatic shout of "a dildo". Amanda's quick witted retort was that "everyone thinks the song is about dildos when it was actually about emotions and relationships and commitment and all that fucked up serious shit". Her most compelling and interesting songs were those from her earlier work with The Dresden Dolls, as well as two fascinating little known covers of "I Want You But I Don't Need You" and "Look Mommy No Hands", weirder was her rendition of Radiohead's "Creep" on ukelele. Her newer songs, even "I Google You", co-written by Gaiman, were dull in comparison. Still, a fun vibrant gig. Grade: B
Vienna Boy's Choir: The little boys with the angelic voices are back in Singapore yet again. This time they did a fairly interesting Silk Road repertoire with a whole range of music from China, to India to Central Asia. The voices were indeed heavenly and the boys also managed a few laughs with their use of random props, the choicest of which was two of them dressing up as a camel. All rather theatrical and detracting somewhat from the singing. But on the whole, they were rather irresistible Grade: B.
Count Basie Orchestra: It's not often you get old school big bands plying their trade anymore. Given my love of swing, I just had to go to one of the most famous big band jazz orchestras. The band played a number of the classic standards, obviously a number from the Count himself but other tidbits from the full range of the classic big band repertoire (including some from the Duke). The group was led (conducted would be far too generous) by a genial laid back old gentleman who often had to ask the band members about what they were next going to play. A nice swinging time overall. Grade: B+
30 December 2009
18 December 2009
Best Movies of the Decade (Top 25)
Here I have attempted to distill a list of my favourite 25 movies released this decade. They aren't necessarily the movies I think will be the most influential in the years to come, nor are they necessarily the most critically acclaimed. What they do represent is quite simply movies I would definitely want to watch again, movies that I found hugely enjoyable or thought provoking. Movies that somehow lingered with me, and will continue to linger still:
Near Misses: Star Trek, Amelie, Gosford Park, The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Minority Report, The Constant Gardener, The Queen, Borat, Finding Nemo, Million Dollar Baby, Once, Closer, Lost in Translation, The Wrestler, Spring Summer Autumn Winter Spring, Revolutionary Road, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Casino Royale, No Country for Old Men, Man on Wire, Bowling for Colombine, Match Point,
Acclaimed Films I Haven't Seen: The Royal Tenenbaums, Four Months Three Years and Two Days, Hurt Locker, United 93, Mulholland Dr., Knocked Up, A History of Violence, Mystic River
- The Lord of the Ring trilogy
- Pan's Labyrinth
- The Lives of Others
- City of God
- Dogville
- Y Tu Mama Tambien
- Kill Bill (Vol. 1 and 2)
- There Will Be Blood
- The Dark Knight
- Wall-E
- Before Sunset
- Atonement
- Milk
- Brokeback Mountain
- The Dreamers
- Michael Clayton
- Sin City
- Sideways
- Good Night and Good Luck
- Avatar
- Downfall
- Memento
- The Incredibles
- Spirited Away
- The Pianist
Near Misses: Star Trek, Amelie, Gosford Park, The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Minority Report, The Constant Gardener, The Queen, Borat, Finding Nemo, Million Dollar Baby, Once, Closer, Lost in Translation, The Wrestler, Spring Summer Autumn Winter Spring, Revolutionary Road, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Casino Royale, No Country for Old Men, Man on Wire, Bowling for Colombine, Match Point,
Acclaimed Films I Haven't Seen: The Royal Tenenbaums, Four Months Three Years and Two Days, Hurt Locker, United 93, Mulholland Dr., Knocked Up, A History of Violence, Mystic River
6 December 2009
Computer Gaming Madness
Much of the first week of the holidays has been taken up by two computer games that I recently purchased. The first, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is an excellent first person shooter, and a sequel to the previous Modern Warfare game. The second, Dragon Age Origins is a classic fantasy role playing game.
Before Modern Warfare 2 was released, I decided to play through the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, at a slightly higher difficulty level for a greater challenge. It underlined yet again how the Call of Duty franchise had really raised the bar for first person shooters. You take on the role of both Soap MacTavish, a new recruit to the elite Special Air Service (SAS), and as Sgt. Jackson of the US Marine Corp. In the Call of Duty games you truly get a strong sense of what it feels like to be 'under fire'. The system of not having a health meter, but having the screen darken as you taken repeated hits (thus limiting your ability to fight back) makes you instinctively try and duck for cover, or for those foolish enough not to, die. This innovation is carried over to Modern Warfare 2, as is the lack of your ability to save the game at any desired point, meaning that you have to survive till specific checkpoints or replay that section.
Call of Duty 2 extends the sheer turmoil and exhilaration of combat that was present in the original, and adds multiple new and fascinating settings and perspectives. In this game you are another young recruit this time mentored by Soap who is now a captain in the SAS. It would be hard to top the original which included the detonation of a nuclear device, a stage where you are a sniper in a ghillie suit stalking through an abandoned city near the former Chernobyl nuclear reactor, and you even get to take the perspective of an aerial bomber providing air support to ground troops. Call of Duty 2 does manage to top this though- you get to try your hand at driving a snow mobile, you have to negotiate a cliff face with ice axes, and in one exhilarating sequence you are a gunner on an armoured vehicle racing through the streets of a Middle Eastern city while taking fire from all directions. The settings are diverse and novel - from a slum in Rio, to an oil derrick used to host SAM sites, to a prison near Vladivostock, even to several levels in suburban America. There is also a stage which is bound to attract enormous controversy where you play an American soldier that infiltrates a Russian terrorist cell, and which involves you taking the role of terrorists shooting up an entire airport full of innocent civilians.
There are several drawbacks to the game despite the intense combat experience, the excellent gameplay, the creative settings, and the generally effective AI. First of all, it is expensive. At $75 it is a good $20 more expensive than a normal computer game. I would have less of an issue with it, given its quality, were it not for the fact that it was also disappointingly short. I finished the game in around 10 hours on the advanced difficulty setting. An average gamer could complete it in 6-7 hours on normal difficulty. After you complete the main campaign there is an additional section that you can tackle called "Special Ops" which takes specific elements from the game (evading capture in a forest, snowmobile races, breaching and clearing rooms, surviving a wave of enemy attacks) and you earn between one and three stars by completing these set tasks at higher difficulty levels. That can't disguise the fact that the single player campaign is a bit skimpy.
Another surprising drawback was that the Call of Duty 2 plot ended up far less coherent and structured than the original's which basically involved you hunting down the Russian ultra nationalist Imran Zakhaev. The storyline got downright messy towards the end of Modern Warfare 2, and the motivation behind a crucial plot twist was never really sufficiently explained beyond some bombastic and overly cliched voice-over dialogue between missions. As someone who hardly utilizes the multiplayer component of these games paying such a hefty price for a short campaign was definitely poor value for money. But Call of Duty does provide fantastic thrills and a powerful gaming experience.
Far, far more time was spent playing Dragon Age: Origins. The developers behind the excellent Mass Effect has created a more traditional fantasy role playing game this time around, creating an enormous world to explore complete with its own back story, mythology, political dynamics and much else besides. Incredibly enough, the game even provides multiple back stories to start with, depending on the background and race of your character, with five separate 'origin' quests as a result, all culminating with your recruitment into the Grey Wardens, a group of reknown fighters committed to battling the evil threat of the Dark Spawn. The game is immensely complex, and it is easy to be completely lost in the rich tapestry of this fully realized world. From recruiting and interacting with a multitude of non-playing characters to multiple dialogue options, alternate paths and endings, the game is huge in every sense of the word.
It is also fairly difficult unless you've played through a number of role playing games, particularly the combat elements. For much of the game you will be involved in combat with three other members of your party, and it is essential to have a balance between warrior type melee combatants and ranged characters such as rogues mastering the bow and arrow skill or mages. What I disliked was the necessity to micromanage combat - you had to set out clear instructions in the tactics screen and even then you still had to pause combat repeatedly to control individual characters. The tactics menu also had drawbacks. For example I found it hard to program a mage to cast an area effect spell on a group of enemies far away - or at least to do so effectively. Often, the only way was to pause the game and take control of the character yourself.
The advantage of combat switching was that even if your main character is of a particular class - such as a mage - you can taste combat in all the various roles by playing as an accompanying character for the duration of any particular combat. In the end, I left the game at the easy difficulty setting, minimizing the amount of micro-managing I had to do, and also because I wanted to explore dialogue and character options to a greater degree. I would have preferred a more fluid combat system needing less pausing and tactical development, though.
On the whole, Dragon Age was a hugely addictive and immensely entertaining game. I spent the better part of 25 hours of direct gameplay and I still failed to finish all the various side quests and sub plots, let alone read through the immense codex outlining the history, mythology, and back story that you accumulate as you proceed in your quest. It is a superb buy but only if you are willing to jeopardize your social life for a number of weekends, not to mention risk having your significant other severely annoyed at you for neglecting them! I can't wait for the inevitable sequel that surely must follow, and indeed, for Mass Effect 2, slated for release in April 2010.
Before Modern Warfare 2 was released, I decided to play through the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, at a slightly higher difficulty level for a greater challenge. It underlined yet again how the Call of Duty franchise had really raised the bar for first person shooters. You take on the role of both Soap MacTavish, a new recruit to the elite Special Air Service (SAS), and as Sgt. Jackson of the US Marine Corp. In the Call of Duty games you truly get a strong sense of what it feels like to be 'under fire'. The system of not having a health meter, but having the screen darken as you taken repeated hits (thus limiting your ability to fight back) makes you instinctively try and duck for cover, or for those foolish enough not to, die. This innovation is carried over to Modern Warfare 2, as is the lack of your ability to save the game at any desired point, meaning that you have to survive till specific checkpoints or replay that section.
Call of Duty 2 extends the sheer turmoil and exhilaration of combat that was present in the original, and adds multiple new and fascinating settings and perspectives. In this game you are another young recruit this time mentored by Soap who is now a captain in the SAS. It would be hard to top the original which included the detonation of a nuclear device, a stage where you are a sniper in a ghillie suit stalking through an abandoned city near the former Chernobyl nuclear reactor, and you even get to take the perspective of an aerial bomber providing air support to ground troops. Call of Duty 2 does manage to top this though- you get to try your hand at driving a snow mobile, you have to negotiate a cliff face with ice axes, and in one exhilarating sequence you are a gunner on an armoured vehicle racing through the streets of a Middle Eastern city while taking fire from all directions. The settings are diverse and novel - from a slum in Rio, to an oil derrick used to host SAM sites, to a prison near Vladivostock, even to several levels in suburban America. There is also a stage which is bound to attract enormous controversy where you play an American soldier that infiltrates a Russian terrorist cell, and which involves you taking the role of terrorists shooting up an entire airport full of innocent civilians.
There are several drawbacks to the game despite the intense combat experience, the excellent gameplay, the creative settings, and the generally effective AI. First of all, it is expensive. At $75 it is a good $20 more expensive than a normal computer game. I would have less of an issue with it, given its quality, were it not for the fact that it was also disappointingly short. I finished the game in around 10 hours on the advanced difficulty setting. An average gamer could complete it in 6-7 hours on normal difficulty. After you complete the main campaign there is an additional section that you can tackle called "Special Ops" which takes specific elements from the game (evading capture in a forest, snowmobile races, breaching and clearing rooms, surviving a wave of enemy attacks) and you earn between one and three stars by completing these set tasks at higher difficulty levels. That can't disguise the fact that the single player campaign is a bit skimpy.
Another surprising drawback was that the Call of Duty 2 plot ended up far less coherent and structured than the original's which basically involved you hunting down the Russian ultra nationalist Imran Zakhaev. The storyline got downright messy towards the end of Modern Warfare 2, and the motivation behind a crucial plot twist was never really sufficiently explained beyond some bombastic and overly cliched voice-over dialogue between missions. As someone who hardly utilizes the multiplayer component of these games paying such a hefty price for a short campaign was definitely poor value for money. But Call of Duty does provide fantastic thrills and a powerful gaming experience.
Far, far more time was spent playing Dragon Age: Origins. The developers behind the excellent Mass Effect has created a more traditional fantasy role playing game this time around, creating an enormous world to explore complete with its own back story, mythology, political dynamics and much else besides. Incredibly enough, the game even provides multiple back stories to start with, depending on the background and race of your character, with five separate 'origin' quests as a result, all culminating with your recruitment into the Grey Wardens, a group of reknown fighters committed to battling the evil threat of the Dark Spawn. The game is immensely complex, and it is easy to be completely lost in the rich tapestry of this fully realized world. From recruiting and interacting with a multitude of non-playing characters to multiple dialogue options, alternate paths and endings, the game is huge in every sense of the word.
It is also fairly difficult unless you've played through a number of role playing games, particularly the combat elements. For much of the game you will be involved in combat with three other members of your party, and it is essential to have a balance between warrior type melee combatants and ranged characters such as rogues mastering the bow and arrow skill or mages. What I disliked was the necessity to micromanage combat - you had to set out clear instructions in the tactics screen and even then you still had to pause combat repeatedly to control individual characters. The tactics menu also had drawbacks. For example I found it hard to program a mage to cast an area effect spell on a group of enemies far away - or at least to do so effectively. Often, the only way was to pause the game and take control of the character yourself.
The advantage of combat switching was that even if your main character is of a particular class - such as a mage - you can taste combat in all the various roles by playing as an accompanying character for the duration of any particular combat. In the end, I left the game at the easy difficulty setting, minimizing the amount of micro-managing I had to do, and also because I wanted to explore dialogue and character options to a greater degree. I would have preferred a more fluid combat system needing less pausing and tactical development, though.
On the whole, Dragon Age was a hugely addictive and immensely entertaining game. I spent the better part of 25 hours of direct gameplay and I still failed to finish all the various side quests and sub plots, let alone read through the immense codex outlining the history, mythology, and back story that you accumulate as you proceed in your quest. It is a superb buy but only if you are willing to jeopardize your social life for a number of weekends, not to mention risk having your significant other severely annoyed at you for neglecting them! I can't wait for the inevitable sequel that surely must follow, and indeed, for Mass Effect 2, slated for release in April 2010.
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